Machine for buffing articles of sheet material.



P. A. THUR STON.

MACHINE FOR BUFFING ARTICLES 0P SHEET MATERIAL.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 12, 1912.

1,@47,335., Patented Dec. 17,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

F. A. TH-URSTON. MAGHINB FOR BUFFING ARTiOLES OF SHEET MATERIAL.

' APPLICATION FILED MAR.12, 1912.

LUQ'ZSS5, Patented Dec.17,1912.

3 $HEETS-SHEET 2.

1E 43 14L v 75 57 I if F A. THURSTONI MACHINE FOR BUFFING ARTIOLES 0F SHEET MATERIAL.

Patented Dec. 17, 1912.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR, 12, 1912.

| l X I I l l l l l T I I I I l 1 I l l l .ll

FREDRICK ALBERT THURSTON, OlE LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS HAGHINE FGR. BUFFING ARTICLESOF SHEET MATERIAL.

zipecification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 17, 1912.

Application filed March 12, 1912. Serial No. 683,229.

Tow whom it may concern." I

Be it known that I, FREnnroK ALBERT TnUns'roN, a citizen of the United States,

residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Buffing Articles of Sheet Material, of.

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for bufling articles of sheet material, the same being particularly adapted to buff counters and toe caps for boots and shoes. F urther more, said counters, having been skived on another machine, are then adapted to be operated upon by the machine of this invention to simultaneously buff the opposite ends of said counter.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts set forth inthe following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims thereof.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a partial plan view of the machine of my invention, the same being broken away to save space and the mechanism for'automatically feeding counters to thebutfing instrumentalities being removed. Fig. 2 is adetail section of the cutting wheel, brush and rotary carrier. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on line 33 of Fig. 1, with the machine for feeding the counters partly in elevation and partly in section in connection therewith. Fig. 4 is a detail plan view of the mechanism for feeding the counters and a counter shown in connection therewith. Fig. 5 is a detail section taken on line 55 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the buffing instrumentalities viewed in the direction of the arrow (2 Fig. 3, the mechanism for feeding the counters being removed and the counter being shown in the position it would assume when buffed at opposite ends simultaneously by the huffing instrumentalities, the \v(. rk-supp(' rt being indicated in dotted lines. Fig. '2' is a detail view of a collar. Fig. 8 is a detail section taken on=line-88 of Fig. 6.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several iews of the drawings.

In the drawings, 10 is the rotary carrier roll, 1.1 is the buffing roll and 12 is a rotar brush.

The carrier roll 10 is provided with a series of matrices 13, 13 fastened by screws 14- to the roll 10 and forming, in effect. a portion of its periphery. Said matrices are tween two each provided with a recess 14 which is of such shape as to receive one end of a counter 15 (see Figs. 2 and 6). The matrices 13 are provided with a series of-ports 16, 1 6 which each communicate, respectively, with a passage 17. The roll 10 is rotatably mounted upon a hollow stationary shaft 18 and is rotated by a disk 19 to which it is connected b pins 20. Said carrier roll is prevented rom moving longitudinally of the stationary shaft 18 by the disk 19 and also by a collar 21 fastened by a screw 22 to the stationary shaft 18. The disk 19 is fastened to a sleeve or hollow shaft 23 through which the stationary shaft 18 extends and said sleeve is rotatably mounted in bearings 24, 24 on an auxiliary frame 25 which, in its turn, is supported upon rods 26, 26, said rods being supported upon a main frame 27. (See Fig. 3.)

The auxiliary frame 25 is adapted to he slid along the rods 26, 26 and locked in position by set-screws 28, 28. A rotarymotion is imparted to the sleeve 23 in the direction of the arrow 6 (Fig. 2) by a gear 29(Fig. 6).

Air is exhausted from the ports 16, 16 tlrrough the passages 17 and through the passage 30 extending longitudinally through the shaft 18. A port 31 is supplied in said shaft Withwhich the different passages 17- communicate as the carrier roll 10 is rotated and a pipe 32 is connected'to the stationary shaft 18 (Fig. 6) and from thence extends to an exhaust pump (not shown in the drawings) whereby the air may be exhausted through the passages 30 and 17 from the ports 16, 16 so as to hold a counter 15 in the recesses 14 while said counter is passing beneath and in contact with the periphery of the bufiing roll 11, and with the rotary brush 12. Another port 33 is provided in the periphery of the stationary shaft 18 and extends longitudinally thereof through the collar 21 at the right hand end of the shaft 18, as viewed in Fig. 6.

The bufling roll 11 is fast to a shaft 34 which is rotatably mounted in bearings 35, 35 on a rocker frame 36. Said rocker'frame is mounted upon a pivotal rod 37 fast to the auxiliary frame 25, the outer or free end of said frame 36 containing the bearings 35, 35 and said bearings being interposed bepairs of springs 38 and 39 (see Fig. 6). The upper'spring 38 at its lower end bears against the bearing 35 and at its upper end it bears against a washer 40, said washer and spring being contained with a cylindrical boss 41 on the auxiliary frame 25. A set-screw 42 bears against the washer 40 and. has screw-threaded engagement with the cap 43 which, in turn, has screwthreaded engagement with the boss 41 and is locked in position by a set-nut 44, so that by turning the screw 42 more or less tension can be placed upon the spring 38. The lower spring 39 (Fig. 6) is contained Within a boss 45, also a part of the auxiliary frame 25. These'springs'are arranged in pairs, as illustrated in Fig. 6, the upper spring 38 tending to hold the rocker frame 36 downwardly so as to bring the buffing roll 11 against the counter 15 as it is carried along beneath said bufling roll by the carrier roll 7 10,1;and the spring 39 acting in opposition to said spring 38 and tending to move the rocker frame, with the butting roll thereon, upwardly and away from the carrier roll 10.

A rotary motion is imparted tothe bufling roll 11 'by a pulley 46 fast to the shaft 34,

, to which shaft said bufling roll is fastened,

' roll 10. :As the counter is carried along by screw-threaded engagement with the carrier roll 10 in the direction of the arrow 5 after passing the buffing roll and having been buffed on the ends thereof, it is brought into contact with'the rotary brush 12 which rotates in the direction of the arrow (Z and by said brush the dust is removed from the surface of the counter.

Thebrush12 is fastto a shaft 50 which is journaled to rotate in bearings 51, 51 forming a (part ofa rocker frame 52 which s pivot upon the rod.37 'lIldjSStlPPOlfGd at its free en'dby a r'od55l which, has screw-j threaded engagement with a nut located above and'b earing upon irocl er frame 36(see Fig.,,3), said rod, 53. also having a nut whici bears against the undeti side ofthe rocker frame 36,so that by turnin 'fthe nuts 54 and 55 in the proper direction, the rocker fraiiie 52, with theshafthl) and rotary brush 12, nay'beraised and lowered as desired and moved toward or away from theperiphei'y 1 of the carrier roll 10. This adjustmentis particularly for the purpose of setting the brush the proper position and also foradjusting the same as it wears in use so as to brush the surface of the counters as they are passed into contact therewith by the carrier roll 10. Arotary motion is im:

62 pivoted at 63 to the frame 27, a rocking motion being imparted to said lever in one direction by a spring 64 and in the opposite direction by a cam 65 fast to a shaft 66 to which shaft a rotary motion is im-' parted by suitable mechanism (not shown in the drawings). The periphery of the cam 65 bears against a roll 67 journaled ,gupon the lever 62.

A T-shaped member 68, constituting a pusher, is fastened to the slide 60 by a screw 69 which projects through a slot 70 in the T- shaped portion 68 of thepusher and has screw-threaded engagement with the slide 60. The arms 71, 71 of the T-shaped member 68 each has a holder 72 fastened thereto by means of screws 73, 73, said holders be ing adjustable longitudinally of the arms 71, 71 and fastened in place by said screws 73, 73. Each of the holders 72 has mounted thereon a finger 74 pivoted at 75 to an in- Y Y verted U-shaped bearing 76. The bearing 76'is fastened rigidly to the holder 72 and a spring 77 is connected at one end to the bearing 7 6 and at the other end to the finger 74, so that the forward end of said finger 74 is held with a yielding pressure against the upper surface of the work-support by the spring 77. Thus, as the finger 74 wears at its forward end by frictional contact.

with the upper surface of the worlcsupport 59, the spring 77 will cause said finger 74 to tip upon the pivot 75 and thus always bringthe forward end of said fingertobear against the upper surface of the work-support 59, so thatth ethin edge of the counter 15 cannot get between the finger-'74'; and the upper sin-faceof' the work sup'portand cause inapcuracypr failurefirf the feeding operation.

By reference i} Rigs 5'1, 3'and- 6Qit will be seen that the recesses 14 open out of the end ofthe carrier' roll 1 Ashereinbefoie'set forth the completemachine of this invention is adapted'to simultaneously buff opposite ends of the counter. The drawings particularly illustrate'the mechanisnrwhich bufi's the lefthand end of the cfiunter as it passes through the machine, but in Fig. Q in dotted lines is'also illustrated a portion ofthe machine which buffs the right hand end of the counter-that i s,jit illustrates in dotted lines the carrierroll and the buffing roll ouses associated therewith. The two parts of the machine, that is, the one that buffs the left hand end of the counter and the one that buffs the right hand end of the counter 1 are substantially alike, except that they are hand end, the butting roll and the carrier roll are located at the left of the m'echanism which drives them.

In order to adapt the machine to simultaneously buff .the opposite ends of counters of different lengths, the auxiliary frames 25 are made adjustable upon the rods 26, so that the bufiing and carrier rolls, together with the rotary brushes, may move toward or away from each other to accommodate short or long counters respectively.

The general operation of the mechanism hereinbefore specifically described is as follows: The counters are placed upon the work-support 59 one by one in front of the pusher fingers 74, 74 as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. ing been started by throwing in a suitable clutch (not shown in the drawings, but in a manner well known to those skilled in this art) the counter is fed forward between the bufling rolls and the carrier rolls by means of the slide 60, lever 62 and cam 65. The mechanism is so timed that one of said counters is fed to the carrier roll beneath the butting roll for each of the re cesses 14, 14 in the periphery of said carrier roll. The exhaust causing a vacuum in the ports 16, 16, said counters will be held in the respective recesses as they pass beneath the buiiing'roll and into contact with the brush.

As soon as the counter has passed by the brush, air will enter the passage 17 and the vacuum passage 30 will be shut off from the passage 17 so that the counter will no longer be held within the recess and will drop into a suitable receptacle as the carrier rotates in the direction of the arrow 1) (Fig. 2). This operation takes place with each of the counters held in the different recesses upon the periphery of the carrier roll as it is rotated, first the vacuum causing the counter to be held down upon the periphery of the carrier roll while itis being burnished and brushed and subsequently the vacuum being broken the air rushes in.

through the port 33 and through the passage 17 and ports 16, so that the counter is released from the periphery of the carrier roll and drops into the receptacle provided therefor. During this feeding of the counter. it will be understood that the butting roll 11 is rotated at higher speed than the carrier roll and in the opposite direc- The mechanism havtion, as indicated by the arrows 0 and 6, respectively, and the comparatively rough surfaces of the ends of the counter are smoothed ofi by the butting rolls, said buffing rolls also being yieldingly pressed against the surface of the counter by the springs 38, so that the general form in cross sectional contour of the counter will be .pre-

served, the machine actin only to smooth the same upon its surface, ut not to change its shape, as would result if the butting rolls were rigidly mounted instead of yieldingly supported.

After having been buffed, as hereinbefore set forth, the rotary brush 12 brushes the dust off of the surface of the counter and the same is then released from the periphery of the carrier roll and dropped into a suitable receptacle.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim and desire by Letters Patent to secure is: i

1. A machine for butting articles or" sheet material having, in combination, a pair of feed rolls, one of said rolls having abrasive material upon its periphery and constituting a butting roll, a stationary shaft upon whichthe other roll is rotatably mounted, said shaft having an air exhaust passage and an air supply passage therein, said passages opening out of the periphery of said shaft, said, last-named roll having ports in its periphery and a passage therein leading from said ports and adapted to alternately communicate with said air exhaust and sup ply. passages.

2. A machine for butting articles of sheet material having, in combination, a pair of feed rolls, one of said rolls having abrasive material upon its periphery and constituting a buffing roll, a stationary shaft upon which the other roll is rotatably mounted, said shaft having an air exhaust passage and an air supply passage therein,

,said passages opening out of the periphery of said shaft, said last-named roll having a recess in its periphery adapted to receive one of said articles and having ports leading out of said recess into a passage therein which is adapted to alternately communicate with said exhaust and air supply passages.

3,; A machine for buffing articles of sheet material having, in combination, a pair offeed rolls, one of said rolls having abrasive material upon its periphery and constituting a butting roll, a stationary shaft upon which the other of said rolls is rotatably mounted, said'shaft having an air exhaust and an air supply passage therein, said passages opening out of the periphery of said shaft, said last-named roll having a series of passages therein, each of said passages,

respectively, communicating with a series of ports in the periphery of said roll and feed rolls,

adapted to alternately communicate with said exhaust and supply passages. 4. A machine for buffing articles of sheet material having, in combination, a pair of feed rolls, one of said rolls having abrasive material upon its periphery and constituting a bufiing roll, a rocker frame upon which said butting roll. is rotatably mounted, a pair of springs between which the free end of said rockerframe is interposed and means to hold one of said articles in the periphery of the other of said. rolls. I

5. A machine for bufling articles of sheet material having, in combination, a pair of one of said rolls having abrasive material upon its periphery and constituting a bufling roll, the other roll having ports in its periphery and constituting-a carrier roll for one of said articles, means to exwhich said brush is rotatably supported and means to adjust said rocker frame to move said brush toward or away from the pe riphery of said carrier roll. v

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two'subscribing wit nesses.

FREDRICK ALBERT THURSTON. Witnesses 1 SYDNEY E. TAFT, MARGARET E. HORN. 

